What do you get paid for?

SHARE | Sunday, 06 July 2014 | By Nelson Letshwene

Welcome to the Golden Rule. We will start by laying the platform upon which we will play. Our purpose is to add value. The function of an economy is to create value. A country creates value for its citizens when it creates a platform upon which the citizenry can create value. The citizens create value by solving problems and creating beneficial services or goods that others are prepared to pay for. People only pay for value. The question, what do you get paid for, applies not only to individuals but to companies and to the country at large. Are we value creators?

In your job, in your business, in what you do, what do you get paid for? If everyone is programmed for greatness, why is it that only 2% achieve greatness? First, Is it because no one has ever helped you understand what greatness looks like? The expression of talent as a great value creator is key. How should greatness be received? How do you make sure that your greatness is received by those it is intended for?

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Secondly, could it be that you don’t know the safest and the fasted, success probable paths to greatness? To achieve greatness, you must know what it looks like, how it should be received, what paths are available to you.

As a country, we look at productivity levels so that we can get paid as a country. In Botswana as an economy, we largely get paid for our diamonds, beef, some manufacturing, and all the things that we export so that the outside world can pay us. That is why the balance of payment is so important. For a country to be rich, it needs to export more so that it can get more money in. If a country borrows more than it’s able to produce, it will run a deficit budget.

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Botswana has “A-“ and “A-2” grades for long term and short term ratings from rating agencies because of its ability to create stability and a platform upon which value can be created. There are factors, forces, elements that are very predictable in life. When you control these things, you can control the outcomes.

Jay Abraham, a business growth strategist says only 2% of the things that happen to us are outside our control, but the 98% are things that happen to us as a result of what things we have done or not, actions we do or don’t, forces we understand and harness or not.

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Divergent thinking, as compared to convergent thinking, is the way to growth. Convergent thinking is all that you already know. It is thinking within the box, so to speak. Divergent thinking is when you learn, interact with, and consider things you have never considered before. That is the only way you learn and grow. If we only stick to what we know, we will never grow. If our politics never change, our economic outlook never change, our belief systems remain unchallenged and unchanged, we remain the same.

The only way to optimisation is to look where you’d never looked, hear what you’d never heard, and process what you’d never processed.

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Every member of this economy needs to participate in the economy for the economy to grow. Everyone needs to optimise their resources. Every single day, each one of us should strive to figure out how to optimise. Identify every day what you could be better at. Your purpose is to make people better off. How do you add value.? Discover all your hidden assets and talents. Everyday mine the windfalls coming your way. Don’t try to get a free ride, or a free lunch. Add value. What do you get paid for?